Here are seven steps explaining how you can write a PR strategy so that your marketing spend goes further and works harder.
Do your research. What is going on in your business world? What issues are on the horizon? How do your stakeholders view your organisation? What public relations issue(s) do you wish to address?
The public relations’ objectives should be SMART and help you to achieve your organisation's aims and objectives.
Having set clear objectives you will have a good idea about who you wish to communicate with eg if a Farnham charity working with vulnerable young people wants to increase volunteering, they may choose to focus activity on people who have recently retired and live in Farnham or its surrounding villages.
What are you going to say? What is the message that will appear consistently throughout all PR activity? Your website, Tweets, press releases, interview on local radio, company brochure all need to communicate clearly what you are about. You should come across as one organisation and not lots of different ones.
Having set your objectives and identified your target audience what strategy will you adopt eg a social media campaign or a campaign that targets print media within a 15 mile radius of Haslemere.
Put together a plan that sets down all the tactics you will implement to achieve the objectives. The action plan needs to be detailed and identify timescales and resources required.
This is an important and ongoing part of your strategy. Evaluate activity to decide whether you need to adjust your plan. It's only by evaluating your public relations’ activity that you will you be able to conclude whether the objectives have been met and your money well spent.
If you are a charity, not for profit or a business that is helping to improve people's lives, having a strategy will save you money in the long term. See our strategy packages or contact us for a consultation to identify your next steps.